A welcome holiday in Samoa is tantalisingly close for Joseph Parker, but first he must pass a final examination of the year in the form of Brazilian Irineu Beato Costa Junior.
Costa Junior's presence has already brought back painful memories of an April night in Germany when Parker, the New Zealand heavyweight champion, left the ring with a burst eardrum at the hands of another Brazilian, Marcelo Luiz Nascimento.
Parker emerged from the fight victorious thanks to a TKO in the seventh round, one round after a powerful right hand caught him with his head turned away slightly, but the incident has stayed with the 22-year-old and his trainer Kevin Barry.
Parker cannot afford to drop his hands against 34-year-old Costa Junior, a powerful man in the prime of his career with only one defeat in 16 professional fights.
"Still very fresh in my mind, as I know it's very fresh in Joe's mind, is the fight in Germany in April against Nascimento, that one punch, one bad decision by Joe in the sixth round, turning his head, not covering the right hand ... it nearly cost us the fight," said Barry.
